Irma Prep PR Style

Irma arrived Wednesday, Sept. 6.  We lost water earlier in the day then power around 5pm, which was the predicted time for Irma to reach the eastern coast. We were without city water and power until that Friday evening - almost exactly 48 hours.  We rent and are grateful for prepared landlords who had a water cistern and generator available for us.  Because propane is a hot commodity during storms, our tanks were running low, so we eventually started climbing onto the roof intermittently to turn it off and on to preserve fuel.  The water cistern is power-based, so only would that work when we decided to switch on the generator.  I realize this is more than others have, but it's something many should try to invest in.  And here, power or water outages can occur randomly any day.  

So now Irma has passed, but many here are still without water and/or power. We are grateful the effects weren't felt as much here as in other places and hope Irma makes her way back to sea without the U.S. being affected, especially in light of the grim forecast for Florida and Georgia.

With that, there were several measures we took in preparing and riding out the storm.

1) Pray. Declare the Lord's provision to supply His people's needs and His peace over stress, anxiety, and fear.  In our house, we called it a "hurricane party." The kids anticipated the power going out so they could start eating my homemade bread, popcorn, and cookies.  

2) Keto: I've been keto since April and try hard to keep it that way.  The storm was no exception.  And I did have to try.  There are lots of things that can keep in a cooler and shelf: obvious oils; hard-boiled eggs; pre-cut salad stuff; ghee and butter; cream cheese; olives; pickles; avocado; Duke's or homemade mayo (for veggies, meats, and to make chicken salad); PB; pre-made fat bombs, keto bread, and bacon; Stevia-sweetened protein powder; pumpkin seeds; jerky; pork skins; canned green beans; meats,... and I had stuff to make my fatty blends for when the generator was working.

Non-keto: I kept homemade cookies, bread, chips, granola bars, jerky, nuts, instant coffee, canned fruit, and popcorn on hand for the family.

3) Emergency "flee" bag: My emergency bag foods were pumpkin seeds, jerky, and protein bars if we actually had to flee the house last-minute. It also had essentials for me and the kids:

• Supplies: Small flashlight with extra batteries; ID, cash, and cards in a sealed plastic bag; matches; trash bags (including doggie poop bags); cell charger; emergency whistle; water purification tablets; band-aids, neosporin, and sanitizer
• 1 change of clothes each
• Food: protein bars; granola bars; fruit snacks; baggie of bread; jerky; baggie of jelly beans; couple water bottles
• Hygiene: comb; small bottle of liquid kid soap; bar of soap; flushable wipes; toothpaste; female hygiene products

4) If hunkering down:

• Get your laundry done asap.
• Obviously water. We filled containers with filtered water for drinking before the power went out to preserve our bottled supply. Getting the 5-gallon water-machine-refills at Costco is a help too - even if you don't have a dispenser. I filled an empty 5-gallon container from Walmart with filtered water from the fridge before the power went out!
• Coolers and ice. If you have a freezer that makes ice, fill some plastic bags now and fill more more as the ice maker refills if you can't get ice at a store. Foods will keep longer if you don't open the fridge/freezer during an outage, so have a mental plan each time you need to open them and have a container of ice to set in the fridge during an outage to keep it cooler.
• Batteries. If you have time, Amazon those jokers. Stores are probably out. We have candles and flashlights but could've used the batteries for our counter-top fan!
• BBQ: 1) Get one. 2) Elevate the charcoal and enclose it and all supplies during the storm. 3) Have metal cookware that can go on the grill to boil water, cook, etc.
• A stand alone freezer: Use it to just to keep bags of ice so it can be used as a cooler if the power goes out.
• Normal essentials: First Aid kit, prescriptions, TP, flushable wipes, trashbags, bar soap, kid soap if app., towels, and female Aunt Flo items if you can't get to a store for a month.
• Still be ready to leave. Put gas in the car, and living here, we have a 1-person kayak for recreation but made sure it was ready if needed. We also had shoes and kid floaties ready and their bike helmets out in case stuff started flying or falling.

There are SO many other things to include, many of which can be kept in a vehicle at all times. Research and be ready, especially if you're not in a place with ample resources or flee locations - like an island!